Dyess to host Johnny Cash Heritage Festival

The Johnny Cash Heritage Festival kicked off Thursday and goes through the weekend.

It was started by Arkansas State University, and this year, it’s getting even bigger.

But the festival wasn’t just started to celebrate the Man in Black.

It’s also to educate people about the town that shaped him.

Dyess Colony was one of the farming towns that sprouted up during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration. Its origins and history helped shape Cash’s music and style, as well as his passion for the downtrodden.

“[They] had lost their farms because of the Depression, or who were just really down on their luck," said Ruth Hawkins, director of ASU’s Heritage Sites. "They recruited 500 farm families to come here, and the Cash family, was one of those families.”

There’s music all weekend on stage near the Dyess Theatre, including performances by Allison Krauss, John Carter and Ana Cristina Cash, and Jamey Johnson.